SINGAPORE — Singapore's first cardinal has set his sights on promoting religious harmony in Asia, through strengthening dialogue between the different religions. Cardinal William Goh, who was one of 20 new cardinals formally installed by Pope Francis at a ceremony in the Vatican City on Saturday (Aug 27), said in an interview with The Straits Times before his trip that...
Cardinal Goh was formally installed by Pope Francis at a ceremony in the Vatican City on Aug 27, 2022.SINGAPORE — Singapore's first cardinal has set his sights on promoting religious harmony in Asia, through strengthening dialogue between the different religions.
He added: "The Government has always been conscious of promoting unity, giving the support without being the one who's driving it... The Government sees us as partners because, at the end of the day, we are building a better society, we want to live a harmonious life in Singapore. In the role, he will have to assist the Pope and is also expected to serve a wider role in the region.
At the meeting on Saturday, Cardinal Goh, 65, took an oath of loyalty to the Pope and received a four-cornered red hat, or biretta, his document of appointment, and a gold ring stamped with the Pope's coat of arms. Later on, at Montfort Junior School, he would go to church to pray before school and during recess time, while his friends were playing with marbles and running around."In those days, we were so poor, we didn't have much money to eat as well, so I went to church to pray."It was also poverty, in a sense, that led him to join a church group in school called the Crusaders which would meet on Saturday mornings to listen to Bible stories and play.
He got on well with the 30 colleagues in the bank and describes his time there as "happy". These relationships made it hard for him when he finally left to explore being a priest again, a path that would involve a life of sacrifice where he would be given only enough to sustain himself, and would have to take a vow of celibacy.
But the road to priesthood was not easy, and Cardinal Goh had thoughts of leaving many times, he said."All these things are very human questions coming up... I'm giving my whole life, I'm not paid...
Among his biggest challenges as archbishop so far are dealing with sensitive issues, such as closing the church during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, handling lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer issues, and responding to the sexual abuse of two teens by a member of a Catholic religious order.
"LGBTQ, they are God's children as well, they should be loved, we should care for them, we should support them and help them to find peace in their hearts as they try to search for the will of God for them," said Cardinal Goh. Another difficult issue he has had to handle was the sex abuse case involving a prominent member of a Catholic order that established schools here. The former educator was sentenced to five years' jail for committing unlawful sexual acts with two teenage boys.
He also told the orders that they would have to report any case to the police and to him, and he would report it to Rome.
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